Bermuda motorcycle racer, Antoine Richards, bounced back in style yesterday at the Daytona International Speedway when he finished in 12th place after crashing on his debut on Thursday.

Richards said after his race at the famed track: "I was going for consistency and I am very pleased with the result as is my team (Celtic Racing Team)."

The Bermudian was eager to get back on his Suzuki GSX-R 600 for yesterday's AMA Pro SuperSport Championship race after he crashed after coming out of a corner on lap three of the 12-lap race on Thursday.

While Richards was not hurt in the crash his bike did suffer and had to be worked on for hours before yesterday's race.

Richards said: "I got a good start and I was concentrated on getting a good finish ¿ I wanted to ride consistent laps ¿ that is what I really wanted. Myself and the team wanted consistency and a good result. I am happy, the team is happy and our sponsors are happy. We had a good finish ¿ and I finished with a smile on my face."

Richards praised his mechanics on the Celtic Race Team.

"I raced the same bike (as I rode on Thursday) and I have to give a lot of credit to my team. They did an awesome job because the bike was pretty wrecked after Thursday's crash. It was worse than I had originally thought. They managed to get the bike back together and ready for today's race. I really have to give them a lot of credit and I only managed to race because of them. They never gave up - the bike came to them all wrecked and they said 'let's see what we can do with it'. They worked hard all night to put it back together.

"I didn't touch the bike myself.

"We had to go to a bike inspection before I went out (to race) and they made sure it was all good."

The winner of the race yesterday was Joey Pascarella on a Yamaha YZF-R6 with fellow Yamaha riders Jake Gagne and Tomas Puerta second and third.

Richards was 73.565 seconds behind the winner crossing the checkered flag.

Before leaving Daytona on Sunday, Richards was planning on watching his Celtic teammate PJ Jacobsen race in the Daytona SportBike class.

Richards said: "PJ is only 16-years-old but he is very, very fast.

"He has really helped me along and he has a lot of experience even though he is so young. He has helped me get faster and we get along very good ¿ the whole team gets along really well. PJ is from New York and hopefully I can visit him sometime this year."

Richards flies to California tomorrow to get together with his riding coach Jason Pridmore. "I will be at school with him next week and we are also trying to get some more sponsorship."

Richards' next race will be in April when he travels to Atlanta, Georgia for Road Atlanta where the AMA Suzuki Superbike Showdown will be staged.

Road Atlanta was carved out of the red Georgia clay on a 750 acre Hall County plot of land in 1969.

What was once a farmer's field is now a world class motorsports facility, rich in history and tradition.